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No.-6l7,lll. Patented Ian. 3, I899. G. A. LYNCKEB.

FIRE DAMP DETEOTDR.

(Application filed Mar. 11, 1897.) (No Model.)

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ATENT GUSTAV A. LYN CKER, OF MUNICH, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN BRANDNER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Fl RE-DAIVI P DETECTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,111, dated January 3, 1899.

Application filed March 11, 1897. serial No. 626,966. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUs'rAv ADOLF LYNOK- ER, a citizen of Germany, and a resident of Munich, Bavaria, in the Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Damp Detectors, (patented in England August 29, 1895, No. 16,231; in Germany August 11, 1895, No. 85,601; in Austria December 4, 1890, No. 7,503; 'in Hungary December 10, 1896, No. 14,191; in Belgium September 16, 1895, No. 117,328, and in France December 28, 1895, No. 250,109,) of which the following is a specification.

The general object of this invention is to provide a detector of fire-damp in mines which may be carried by the miner to the place where he is at Work and there suspended, in order to give immediate notice of the presence of fire-damp.

The detector constituting my invention includes a casing, with means for closing it airtight, a dry electric battery or the like, and an electric signal-bell. The lower part of the casing is in shape of a recessed chamber, which is closed below the same from the outer air bya porous diaphragm-as, for instance, by a plate of baked unglazed clay. This chamber narrows above and fgrms a tubular neck, in which is fitted a stopper adapted to close theneck air-tight, yet capable of moving up and down in the neck without friction sufficient to prevent it from moving under any variation in the air-pressure within the chamberand Within the casing, respectively. This stopper may be made of leather, wood, or other similar material, and on rising it has the effect of closing an electric circuit between the bell and the battery and by which the bell is set in action. The casing has means for suspending it from the roof or other place where it is to be employed, and may have below it a bell or hood for collecting and leading gases directly to the aforesaid diaphragm. Fire-damp or the like on reaching this apparatus diffuses itself through the porous diaphragm ,and before the air can diffuse itself from within the chamber through the said diaphragm there will be an increase of pressure sufficient to lift the stopper and close the circuit by which the sig nal-bell is set in action.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I represents a vertical longitudinal section of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. II represents a vertical section of a part thereof. Fig. III represents a like section also of another part thereof.

On the bottom of a cylinder-shaped casing WV isa metallic funnel-shaped chamber F, which .is in practice closed air-tight, as by means of a porous plate or disk I, as of baked unglazed clay. In the upper part or neck of this casin g is fitted a stopper a, of leather or other similar material, this stopper being capable of moving up and down in the neck under expansion of the air in the casing, as will be hereinafter explained. On-the upper part of this stopper is fitted a platinum or like ringt in such a manner that the platinum ring Will be at a short distance from the upper end of the neck of the casing. The neck of the casing may be separated, as at n, and'the end of the neck may be insulated, as by means of a rubber disk applied to its upper end.

At both sides of the neck the bearers are fitted, which are provided with electrical binding-screws S S, which receive the platinum points ll, which latter represent the ends of the wires L L and are approached to about two to three millimeters and are fixed immediately above the insulating-ring.

At the side of the chamber F in the casing is placed the dry battery J and the bell G in such a manner that the wire will form a contact between battery and bell, and the other poles are connected by the wires L L with the electric contact-posts.

Over the end of the neck, and consequently over the whole contact-point,is screwed a protecting-cap K.

The cylindrical casing WV,which has a width of about forty-five centimeters and a height of about twenty centimeters, is hermetically closed with a cover 1 by means of a rubber ring and screws 7.: and is provided in the center with a handle 6 for suspending or carrying the apparatus.

The apparatus need only be suspended from the roof of the working chamber. The gases produced and mounting upward will collect in the collecting-bell Hand be thus brought to the plate P. By the quicker diffusion of fire-damp the latter will penetrate through the plate P over a surface of about twenty to twenty-two centimeters, and here in the suddenly-narrowing space above the plate it will come in contact with atmospheric air, whereby a compression of this air and a pressure on the lower part of the stopper a will be occasioned. The construction, Fig. III, of the apparatus will insure the necessary expansion for the slight lifting of the stopper a before the expansion in the chamber is again neutralized by the return diffusion of the air. By the moving of the stopper a the electric circuit is closed by platinum ringt and platinum points Z Z and the alarm-bell is actuated. The apparatus will also act on a sudden and considerable escape of firedamp before the necessary mixture with atmospheric air has taken place, which mixture is necessary before explosion takes place.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A fire-damp detector in which are combined, an air-tight chamber, an electric alarm and electric battery therein, a dome in said chamber with a central neck open at the upper end, a movable plug or piston fitted in said neck and provided with a metallic head, forming a circuit-closer, electrodes projecting laterally into the neck of the dome at a point normally above said metallic head of the piston, and electric connections between the electrodes, the alarm and the battery, the whole being adapted to operate substantially as herein described.

G. A. LYNGKER.

lVitnesses:

EMIL HENZEL, KERGL OTTO. 

